SOCCER CONCLUDES ROAD TRIP THIS WEEKEND

Press Release

10/20/05– FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SOCCER CONCLUDES ROAD TRIP THIS WEEKEND
CONTACT: Kit Strief

Complete Release in PDF Format

THE SETTING
The University of South Alabama women’s soccer team concludes its three game road trip with the final conference game of the season at Louisiana-Lafayette on Oct. 23. The game against Florida International, which was scheduled for Friday, Oct. 21 in Miami, has been cancelled due to the possibility that hurricane Wilma will hit South Florida this weekend.

SCOUTING SOUTH ALABAMA
The University of South Alabama women’s soccer team enters the 2005 season determined to gain prominence in the Sun Belt Conference. The Jaguars are poised to climb the SBC ladder with a core of veteran players and a talented pool of newcomers.

In his seventh year at the helm, Jaguar coach Mike Varga remains focused on winning the conference and playing in the NCAA’s. With this goal in mind, Varga is optimistic about the team’s make-up, skill level and exceptional versatility.

This season, the Jaguars are led by sophomore Kelly Tarrant who has scored eight goals and 20 points. Senior Rebecca Kahn and sophomore Jennifer Beckwith are second on the team with three goals each and senior senior Tanya Allegretti is third with two goals. Beckwith leads the team with six assists.

In goal, freshman Kelsie Langford owns an 8-4-1 record and has a 1.03 goals against average and an 77 percent save percentage. To her credit, Langford has five shutouts on the season.
Last year, Kahn earned second team All-Sun Belt Conference honors for the second year in a row last season. Kahn led the Jaguars with 11 goals and 27 points. Kahn also led the team with a .314 shot percentage. Senior Tanya Allegretti also returns to help lead the offense after scoring eight goals in 2004.

RECAPPING LAST WEEK
The Jaguars picked up the first two road wins of the season at Troy and at Southeastern Louisiana. The Jaguars improved to 5-2 in conference play with a 4-0 victory at Troy on Friday, Oct. 14 and a 2-1 non-conference victory at SELA on Sunday, Oct. 16. Beckwith paced the Jaguars with two goals against Troy. She came back on Sunday with the assist on the first goal of the game against the Lady Lions. USA’s Jen Edgar scored her first career goal against SELA just 3:39 into the contest. Tarrant added her team-high eighth goal of the year and her second game winner against the Lady Lions, propelling USA to the victory.

SCOUTING FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL
The Golden Panthers enter the week with a 3-7-4 overall record and a 1-4-1 record in the Sun Belt Conference. FIU dropped a pair of conference games this past weekend at Middle Tennessee and at Western Kentucky. The Blue Raiders blanked FIU 3-0 and Western posted a 2-0 win.

The Golden Panthers are led by Janet Liguori who has four goals and eight points to lead the team. She also has a team-leading 38 shots and 26 on goal. Second on the team in goals is Janessa Taddei with two scores and four points.

In goal, FIU has split time between Laura Snell and Madeline Gannon. Snell has a 2-4-3 record in 10 games played. She has started nine games and allowed 10 goals for a 1.04 average and 39 saves. Gannon has a 1-2-1 record in six games with five starts. She has allowed eight goals for a 1.52 average and 16 saves.

Head coach Everton Edwards is in his 21st season at the helm of the Golden Panther program. Edwards has a 156-162-29 record, guiding the team to the 2000 Sun Belt Conference crown.

LAST TIME THEY MET
The series with FIU is tied 4-4. FIU won the first four meetings in the series dating back to Oct. 23, 1999. USA has won the last four by a combined score of 14-1. USA won last year at “The Cage” 5-0.

SCOUTING LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE
The Ragin Cajuns enter the week with a 3-7-3 record overall and a 1-4-1 record in the Sun Belt Conference. ULL is led by Taunya Geelhoed with three goals and six points this season. Geelhoed leads the team with 23 shots and 10 on goal. She has two game winners. Erika Saffer is second on the team with two goals and four points. Four players are tied with one goal each.
In goal, ULL is led by Stephanie Weston who has played and started in all 12 matches. Weston has allowed 19 goals for a 1.52 average with 65 saves and three shutouts.

Head coach Scott Wieland is in his first year at the helm of the Ragin Cajun program. Wieland has an 86-38-3 record overall in seven seasons. He came from Belmont Abby where he led the D-II program to three undefeated regular season conference championships over the past six years.

LAST TIME THEY MET
USA holds a 3-0-2 record over ULL. USA and ULL played to a 1-1 tie last year at “The Cage” on Oct. 1. USA has outscored the Ragin Cajuns 10-2 in the five games series dating back to Oct. 29, 2000.

JAGUARS HOST 2005 SUN BELT CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2005 Sun Belt Conference Championship returns to “The Cage” on the campus of the University of South Alabama. The tournament will run from Nov. 2-5 and the champion will receive an automatic bid to the 2005 NCAA Championship. USA last hosted the conference tournament in 2002. This will mark the third time that the tournament has been held in Mobile.

ALLEGRETTI NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior Tanya Allegretti was named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week for her efforts in two key conference wins Oct. 7-9 at “The Cage.” Allegretti scored her first two goals of the season, helping the Jaguars improve to 4-2 in conference play. Allegretti scored the first goal of the game against Middle Tenessee on Oct. 7 in a 2-1 victory and scored the insurance goal in a 2-0 victory over Western Kentucky on Oct. 9. This was the third Player of the Week honor for Allegretti in her career and the first for the 2005 squad.

SET PIECE PLAYS PAY OFF
The Jaguars have scored goals off corner kicks in consecutive games this season. USA scored the first goal of a 2-0 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock on Sept. 23. The first of two goals by Tarrant came off the set piece in the 31st minute. Leppert was credited with the assist. In the Sept. 25 game against Arkansas State, Beckwith scored her first goal of the season off a corner from Allegretti and Tarrant for the game winner.

JAGUARS IN THE CONFERENCE
The Jaguars have a number of players ranking in the top three in the conference in different statistical catagories. Tarrant is third in points (20), points per game (1.54), goals (8), goals per game (0.62) and tied for first in game winning goals with three. Beckwith ranks fourth in assists (6) and third in assists per game (0.50).

Defensively, Langford ranks second in goals against average (1.03), third in save percentage (.778), tied for first in shutouts (5) and second in shutouts per game at a 0.38 clip.

JAGUAR KUDDOS...AGAIN
Five Jaguars earned All-Tournament honors after their play in the KELME Jaguar Invitational Sept. 16-18. Sophomore Michelle Leppert, sophomore Kelly Tarrant, sophomore Hallie Robertson, senior Rebecca Kahn and freshman Chiara Greco all were named to the 11-player all-tournament team. Tarrant earned Offensive MVP and Robertson was named Defensive MVP. Four Jaguars were named to the KELME Port City Classic All-Tournament team Aug. 26 and 28th.

TOURNAMENT CHAMPS...AGAIN
The USA women’s soccer team won its second tournament of the year on Sept. 18. USA defeated Louisiana-Monroe, 1-0 and tied Northwestern State, 1-1 to take home the 2005 KELME Jaguar Invitational crown. USA won the 2005 KELME Port City Classic (Aug. 26 and 28) after defeating Birmingham-Southern 2-1 in the season opener.

FRESHMEN IMPACT
Freshman Chiara Greco is second on the team with 22 shots thus far. She tallied a career best seven shots and five on goal during the 2005 KELME Jaguar Invitational (Sept. 16 and 18.) In goal, freshman Kelsie Langford has a 1.13 goals against average thus far. She had a stretch where she gave up only one goal in four games. She also has four shutouts to her credit. Freshman Carly Williams has scored a goal and is fifth on the team in shots.

PUT ME IN COACH
Senior Rebecca Kahn came off the bench in the second half of a 1-0 victory over Louisiana-Monroe on Sept. 16. Not more than five minutes after Kahn got into the game, she scored the game winning goal for the Jaguars to snap a two-game losing streak.

SUPER SOPHOMORE
Sophomore Kelly Tarrant leads the Jaguars with eight goals so far this season. Sophomore Jennifer Beckwith and senior Rebecca Kahn are second with three and senior Tanya Allegretti is third with two.

KATRINA EFFECTS
Three games this season have been cancelled due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. USA was scheduled to play Toledo in the final game of the 2005 KELME Port City Classic (Aug. 28), but due to the impending hurricane that came the next day, the game was cancelled. USA was supposed to travel to Louisiana State on Sept. 2 which also was cancelled and a home game on Sept. 4 against Mississippi State was cancelled.

OUT IN THE COMMUNITY
After Hurricane Katrina came through the area, the USA women’s soccer team went out into the community going door to door helping people pickup their yards, shingles or whatever else they needed done to assist in storm cleanup. USA men’s basketball and volleyball also were out in the community after the storm to help.

JAGUARS PICKED SIXTH IN COACH’S POLL
The South Alabama Jaguars were picked to finish sixth in the 2005 preseason coach’s poll, released this week by the Sun Belt Conference. USA received 51 points, ahead of Louisiana-Lafayette (42), Arkansas State (31), Arkansas-Little Rock (20) and Troy (18). North Texas was picked to win the conference receiving 92 points and five first place votes.

PRESEASON COACH’S POLL
Points
1. North Texas (5) 92
2. Denver (3) 89
3. Middle Tennessee (2) 87
4. Florida International 64
5. Western Kentucky 56
6. South Alabama 51
7. Louisiana-Lafayette 42
8. Arkansas State 31
9. Arkansas-Little Rock 20
10. Troy 18

SEVEN JAGS NAMED TO SBC ALL-TIME TEAM
Seven Jaguars were named to the Sun Belt Conference All-Time Soccer Team earlier this week. The 30-person team consists of seven players from USA and Western Kentucky; three players from Arkansas State, Denver, Florida International and North Texas; and two from Louisiana-Lafayette and Middle Tennessee. Jeff Hooke was chosen as the Sun Belt’s all-time coach (Denver) and Marilyn Marin was selected as the conference’s all-time player (North Texas)

South Alabama’s Selections
Cindy Rainville 1998-2001
Amber Angermeirer 2001-2004
Kyla Rogers 1999-2002
Rebecca Kahn 2002-pres.
Yolanda Jinga 1999-2002
Kathy Steinmetz 1999-2002
Keri Osborne 1999-2002

NO PLACE LIKE HOME
South Alabama opened the 2005 season at home for the first time in four years. The Jaguars defeated Birmingham-Southern in the opener (8/26) USA opened the past three seasons on the road going 2-1 during that span. USA is 7-5 all-time in season openers and is 3-2 at The Cage in openers.

NEW FACES
South Alabama has six new faces this season and a number of them will see significant action this season. Freshmen Kelsie Langford, Chiara Greco, Cortney Stewart, Dillon Rogers, Jenny Racine and Carly Williams are all new to the program this year.

EXHIBITION SEASON
The Jaguars went 2-0 during the exhibition season as they defeated the Alumni Team, 6-0 and Auburn-Montgomery, 6-0. Against the Alumni, junior Jennifer Beckwith scored two goals and added an assist. The very next weekend, USA posted the same margin against Auburn-Montgomery. Senior Tanya Allegretti scored two goals and junior Karrie Johnson added two assists.

2005 REDSHIRTS
The Jaguars will be redshirting three players this year, including Brianna Nelson, Erika Fitzpatrick and Jenny Racine.

EXPERIENCED SQUAD
The Jaguars return 14 letterwinners from last year’s squad, including eight starters. Letterwinners returning include Rebecca Kahn, Tanya Allegretti, Karrie Johnson, Kelly Tarrant, Tiffanie Stewart, Sue Ahrens, Hallie Robertson, Michelle Leppert, Shoshana Sevel, Erika Fitzpatrick, Jenn Edgar, Brianna Nelson, Allison Brubeck
and Heather Moore.

JAGUARS EVERYWHERE
The 2005 edition of the Jaguars features players from eight states and Canada. Ohio and the Province of Ontario, Canada, make up the largest portion of the team with six players from Ohio and four from Ontario. Province of Alberta, Canada, has two players on the roster for a total of six from Canada. Three players from Florida, two players from Virginia, Pennsylvania and Indiana, along with one from Alabama, Oklahoma round out the 2005 squad.

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY
In four home games this season, the Jaguars have battled through numerous rain showers. USA and Northwestern State battled to a 1-1 tie as it poured during overtime and double overtime on Sept. 18. USA and Arkansas-Little Rock battled through rain showers Sept. 23 and the Jaguars and Indians of Arkansas State battled through a number of heavy downpours on Sept. 25.

OVERTIME WOES
The Jaguars have had three games go into overtime this year with the last coming on Oct. 2 at North Texas. USA is 0-2-1 in overtime games. USA had a double overtime loss to Murray State (2-1) on Sept. 11 and tied Northwestern State (1-1) on Sept. 18.

TOUGH AT THE CAGE
USA is 6-0-1 this season at “The Cage.” The Jaguars have one home match left on Oct. 30 against Alabama State before hosting the 2005 Sun Belt Conference Women’s Soccer Tournament. Since the program’s inception, USA has gone undefeated three times at home. The last time was a 5-0 home slate in 1998. The year before, USA went 9-0 at home and in the first year of soccer at USA, the Jaguars were 5-0 in 1994.

www.usajaguars.com